Insulated electric conductor.



No. 854,218. PATENTED MAY 21, 1907. 0. T. HUNGERFORD. INSULATED BLEGTRIG CONDUCTOR.

APPLICATION FILED JAILll, 1904.

gvwemtoz lyn mosses to braid the threads about the felt.

., OLIVER T. HUNGERFORD, OF BELLEVILLE, NEW JERSEY.

INSULATED ELECTRIC CONDUCTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 21, 1907.

' A li ation med January 11,1904. Serial No. 188,572.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OLIVER T. HUNGER- FORD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Belleville, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Insulated Electric Conductors, of which the following an insulated conductor of this nature having a non-striated inner covering the density of which can be controlled so that the insulating compound can be disposed in the best manner to cause it to adhere to and efficiently insulate the conductor and the quantity of the insulating compound can be governed in orderto render it sufiiciently effective for the use to which the wire is to be put.

The conductor which is illustrated and described as embodying the invention has a metallic wire covered with matted or felted fibers saturated with an insulatin and waterproofing compound and covere by a shield of tightly braided threads which are saturated with an insulating and waterproofing compound.

The figure of the accompanying drawing shows a perspective'view of a piece of insu lated conductor that embodies the invention.

The wire 1 is preferably copper but of course may be aluminium or any other metal which is a good conductoriof electricity- Immediately surrounding the Wire is a covering 2 of felted or matted-fibers. This covering is made of what is commercially known as felt, that is, wool, fur or hair or a mixture thereof, compacted by rolling, by pressure, or-by shrinking. Upon the exterior of this felted cover a shield 3 of fibrous threads is knitted, woven or braided. It is preferred felt cover and shield of threads are saturated with an electrical insulatin and waterproofing compound, which ma i) pound, an asphaltum compound, oil, rosin, paraflin or the like.

. It is essential to invention that the ductor is put to use.

This

e a rubber com-' cover immediately surrounding the wire be composed of felt. Such a cover is nonstriated, that is, as the fibers are mixed and run in all directions the interstices are irregular and do not extend in any one direction with regularity. Irregular interstices between the fibers hold the insulating com pound more securely than where the interstices are regular as in a striated covering, such, for instance, as a woven or braided covering. 7

Thequantity of insulating compound that the felted fibers will absorb can be governed by regulating the density of the felted fibers. Matted. or felted fibers which are compressed solidly, whether by the process of felting or by the tightness with which the shield is braided about them, will absorb but a certain uantity of insulating compound. Felted fibers that are not solidly compressed. during the process of felting, nor compressed tightly by the braiding of the-shield will hold more of the insulating compound than the fibers which are solidified and compressed tightly. By adjusting the braiding machine the density or the amount of compression givento the fibers may be so determined that just the desired uantity of insulating compound will be absoiibed to act efiiciently when the con- If the conductor is to be used for a high potential system it is necessary to apply a lar er quantity of insulating compound than if the conductor is to be used for a low potential system. With matted fibers in which the interstices are irregular this compression can be easily controlled. There is more pliability to a conductor with a felt covering for the felt fibers are strong and "yet yielding.

The invention claimed is An insulated electricconductor comprising a wire, a felt covering mounted directly upon the surface of said wire and matted thereon, a shield of woven threads or fibers surrounding said felt covering for bindin it to said wire, and an insulating compound saturating the covering material and filling the interstices between the fibers of the matted felt and of the woven. fabric, substantially as set forth.

. OLIVER T. HUNGERFORD. Witnesses: C. F. KiLeonn,

J. P. DALZELL. 

